Baggage-car.



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yrTnD STATES i unica..

PATENT BAGGAG E-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,144, dated December 4, 1900. Application filed January 31, 1900. Serial No. 3,458. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Burlington, in the county of Des Moines and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Baggage-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide a simple, economical, and efficient means to facilitate the loading and unloading of a baggage-car through the side door thereof.

A further object is to provide roller mechanism of such construction and arrangement that it may be applied to the sill of a baggagecar door, over which the baggage may be loaded and unloaded economically and efficiently; and the invention consists in the fea tures, combinations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan View of a portion of a baggage-car constructed in accordance with my improvements. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail taken on line 2 of Figs. l and 3. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2 looking at it from the top, with part of the wire broken away. Fig. 4 is a sectional detail taken on line 4 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a sectional detail taken on lines 5 of Figs. l and 3.

In the art to which this invention relates it is well known thatin the handling of trunks v and other heavy articles which are carried in baggage-cars they are loaded therein from a truck or other appliance drawn Yup close to the car and which is considerably lower than the floor of the car. In loading the articles into the car they are pulled or hauled over the sharp edge of an iron sill, which often results in the straps or locks on the trunks catching on the sharp edge of the sill and being damaged or torn entirely from the package. Further, the pulling of the package over the sharp edge of the sill is very labov rions and often requires the exertion of two men within the car and one or two outside, resulting in loss of time as well as in a large outlay of labor. This loss of time and labor,

as well as theinjury to the baggage, forms serious objections to the present construction of baggage-car, and, further, fast trains are' oftentimes held longer than they should be.

In illustrating and describing my improvement I have only illustrated and described that which I consider to be new, taken in connection with so much that is old as will prop- ,e1-ly disclose the invention and enable -those skilled in the art to practice the same, leaving out of consideration other and well known parts which form no part of my invention and which, if illustrated and described herein, would only tend to confusion, prolixity, and ambiguity.

In constructing a baggage-car in accordance with my improvements I prefer to use the ordinary body portion provided with side walls or frame A and iiooring B, a portion of which is `merely shown therein. I provide a wear-plate O adjacent to the outer edge of the car and at :the side door thereof, in which is rotatably Vmounted a roller D. This roller, as shown in the drawings, extends slightly outwardly and above the outer edge of the sill D and wearplate in such a manner that asa piece of baggage, such as a trunk, strikes the same the op- -erator within the car may pull the baggage int-o t-he car with the aid of the roller and with the least expenditure of time and strength. As shown in` the drawings, the baggage-roller has its journal portions rotatably mounted in suitable brackets d, secured, as shownY in Fig. 2 of the drawings, in a recess d in the sill of the car, in which they are protected by the upper Wear-plate O and an outer wear-plate O.

It may be objectionable at times, especially in the unloading of heavy baggage, to permit the roll to rotate outwardly, as the weight of the heavy pieces of baggage and the minimizing of the friction by the use of the roll would tend to precipitate the baggage on the platform or truck to the injury of one or both, and perhaps to the injury of the employee. In order to provide mechanism which will prevent such a result, one of the journals of the roller is provided with a ratchet E, keyed thereon, and the bearing or box portion with a weighted pawl e, engaging withthe ratchetteeth, the construction and arrangement be ing such that the roll may be operated so as to permit the drawing of baggage into the car and the rotating of the roll to facilitate the same, but which prevents the rotating of the roll in an opposite direction, so that the baggage will have to slide over the roll in un- IOO loading. This ratchet, however, can be dispensed'with on baggage-cars for fast expresstrains which carry merely light and ordinary baggage and where the rolling function of the roll may be taken advantage of both in loading and unloading.

In Fig. l, which is a plan View of a portion of a baggage-car, it will be noticed that the walls of the car are grooved, so as to permit the doors to be slid inwardly and upwardly therein, and that the baggage-roll is placed to one side-the outer side of the groove--so that the door may be easily slid thereover, and bychamfering the lower edge of the door it Will not interfere with the opening or closing thereof.

The advantages of myimprovement will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, and consist principally in permitting of the handling of heavy baggage with greater ease and consequent saving in Wear and tear of the same, the comfort and safety of the employees, the positive gain of time, which in these days is an element of expense in rapid trafic, the saving of even a few seconds being of great importance on limited and other fast trains,where time that is lost in loading must be madeup by greater speed in running, and finally the decreased liability of injury to the baggage of passengers during the process of loading and unloading.

I claiml. In a car of the class described, a sill provided with a recess at its. outer upper edge, bearing brackets located in said recess, a roller journaled in said brackets, holding means located in said recess for preventing the roller from rotating outwardly but permitting it to rotate inwardly, and a protecting plateor plates secured to said sill and covering said recess and the brackets and holding means located therein, substantially as described.

2. In a car of therclass described, a sill portion provided with a recess d at its outer upper edge and at the side door of the car, bearing -brackets in said recess, a roll portion mounted in said bearing-brackets, pawl-andratchet mechanism also located in said recess to prevent the roll rotating outwardly but permitting it to rotate inwardly, a wear-plate at the door-opening on the upper part of the sill, and a second outer wear-plate arranged adjacent to the baggage-roll and covering said pawl-and-ratchet mechanism to protect the same, substantially as described.

3. In a car of the class described, asillprovided with a recess at its outer upper edge, bearing brackets located in said recess, a roller journaled in said brackets, and aseparate' protecting plate or plates secured to said sill and covering said recess and the bearingbrackets therein, substantially as described.

4. In a car of the class described, a sill pro- 'vided with a recess at its outer upper edge,

bearing brackets located in said recess, a roller journaled in said brackets, a ratchetand-pawl mechanism located in said recess to prevent the roller rotating outwardly but permitting it to rotate inwardly, and a protecting plate or plates secured over said recess, bearing-brackets and ratchet-and-pawl mechanism, substantially as described.

'JOHN R. woon.

Witnesses:

W. D. EATON, T. N. FIELD. 

